Workplace bullying is a repeated psychological, physical, sexual abuse, hostility and harassment within an organization and consists of behaviors that are known to be offensive or unwelcome. According to the American Nurses Association (2012), bullying in nursing involves a real or perceived imbalance of power and negative behavior repetition. The bullying behavior in nursing can be overt such as threatening or yelling or more passive such as declining to perform necessary tasks. Whichever the form it takes, bullying is a serious, dynamic and ongoing problem in the healthcare setting which can contribute to demoralization, decreased job satisfaction as well as feelings of anxiety, depression, sadness, and isolation. The nursing organization setting has been identified as one of the significant places that bullying occurs frequently. The ANA has reported that between more than 60 percent of nurses have experienced bullying behavior in the work setting. Most bullying permutations in nursing include management or doctor bullying a nurse, nurse bullying a patient, nurse bullying another nurse, patient bullying a nurse or nurse bullying other healthcare providers.
Workplace bullying is a significant public problem that has received growing attention worldwide. For the nursing profession, bullying has been a problem of increasing concern. As far as 1987, Cox had started to issue warning about the damaging nature of verbal abuse in nursing in the United States but this problem has not yet clearly diminished (Thompson, 2012). Some nurses describe their environment as a place of professional turmoil. However, this insidious nature of this problem has been overlooked and is posing a tremendous threat to the nursing profession. The workplace bullying prevalence in the nursing profession is troubling. Studies have shown that bullying in nursing is widespread with about 65 percent of nursing professionals in the US reporting lateral violence among co-employees. In 2009, Turkey indicated approximately 21 percent of nurses that had been exposed to bullying. In 2005, about 25 percent of nurses in the United Kingdom reported being harassed and bullied at work (Thompson, 2012). These previous studies indicate the international concern about the extent of bullying in the nursing profession.
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As much as some attempt has been made to investigate the nature and magnitude of bullying in nursing, it is critical to integrate the background of bullying in nursing to better comprehend this complex phenomenon. Bullying in nursing causes harm to the entire healthcare setting, especially to patients. According to The Joint Commission (TJC), disruptive and intimidating behaviors can promote medical errors which can lead to preventable serious outcomes. Additionally, bullying in nursing is costly for healthcare employers. This results in increased turnover when bullied nurses choose to quit their jobs instead of remaining to work in a miserable environment. As noted by ALBashtawy et al.(2015), bullying in the workplace can cost more than 4 billion dollars yearly. Therefore, researchers need to delve deep into this issue to come up with more specific information about bullying to establish effective interventions and solutions in the healthcare setting. One fundamental issue that seems to perpetuate bullying in healthcare is less reporting of intimidating and threatening behaviors of bullying.
The bullying topic in nursing has various significant functions in the nursing practice. Firstly, it helps nurses to become aware of the impact of bullying, understand workplace bullying as well as the trend of bullying in nursing. Bedside nurses need to understand the effects of bullying in nursing to prevent significant problems between them and their patients. This is because their job requires them to deliver direct and immediate care to whichever patients assigned to them. Bedside nurses need to understand bullying in nursing so that they assess the general health status of the patient, identify the patient's nursing needs, and assist the patient with moving and maintaining proper body alignment without harassing or threatening them.
Likewise, the topic of bullying in nursing will assist public health nurses to work within the community in supporting the population health as well as delivering preventive health care services. If public health nurses are aware of the effects of bullying in nursing, they will carry out primary health care, education, research, and outreach as well as community development without undermining their patients and other nurses. They will serve their patients to monitor their personal and individual needs, provide nursing procedures and services and come up with health care plans for patients and fill out and track all suitable paperwork without harassing patients.
The topic of bullying in nursing also plays a vital role in the duties and functions of the chief nursing officer (CNO). Understanding the effects of bullying will enable the CNO to maintain clinical as well as patient care standards without bias or hostility to his or her juniors. The CNO will ensure that both employees and patients are safe. Putting this topic into consideration, the CNO will be able to supervise the daily activities within the hospital and ensure that each nurse is treated fairly. He or she will also inspire and encourage nurses to ensure that they uphold the best practices when handling patients. Finally, understudying the topic of bullying will enable the CNO to conduct extensive research, evaluate results and further prepare reports on the best approach the hospital ought to stream operations to ensure each member is satisfied.
Essentially, this topic is significant in the nursing practice to sensitize nurses about bullying and its effects on an organization. It will also help health organizations to create suitable interventions and strategies to prevent this prevailing issue. Regarding the topic of bullying in nursing, I have learned that bullying affects the job performance of nurses. It makes nurses experience trouble in making decisions, unable to work or concentrate and lower productivity. It also creates a hostile environment and further impacts workers compensation claims. It is also costly to the health organization due to the increased use of sick leave and staff turnover. The strengths of nurses indeed vary depending on the area of specialty. As a nurse, it is important to have the ability to critically think and proficiently carry out his or her duties with skills. Further, the nurse ought to be an amazing encourager and listener. Working long hours, being unable to turn off assessment skills and exhaustion to the point of wanting to do nothing are some of the weaknesses I experience as a nurse. The opportunities that I possess as a nurse include active volunteer committee willing to plan and organize events as well as using patients to contribute to the practice delivery. Patient coercion to do things they do not wish to do and risky confidentiality are some of the nurses’ threats.
There are various traits of a good nurse. One of the traits of a good nurse is caring. Nurses do care for individuals in the most delicate and scary times in their life and usually act as the most regular and accessible point of contact for families and patients. A good nurse can do his or her job effectively while showing concern, sympathy, and compassion for each individual. Secondly, a good nurse should have good communication skills. This is because communication skills are one of the most significant requirements of a nurse in giving direction and communicating with patients. Empathy is also an important trait of a great nurse. Empathy is the ability to hear and share the feelings of the patient. It is an important threat that makes a patient feel seen and heard that each person has their own valid set of perspectives and values.
References
ALBashtawy, M., Al-Azzam, M., Rawashda, A., Batiha, A. M., Bashaireh, I., & Sulaiman, M. (2015). Workplace violence toward emergency department staff in Jordanian hospitals: a cross-sectional study. Journal of Nursing Research , 23 (1), 75-81.
Nurses Association (ANA), (2012). Bullying In the Workplace. Nursing Insider News. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/HomepageCategory/NursingInsider/Archive_1/2012-NI/Apr-2012-NI/ANA-Bullying-in-the-Workplace-Publication.html on 21st April 2020
Thompson, R. (2012). " Do No Harm" Applies to Nurses Too: Strategies to Protect and Bully-proof Yourself at Work. InCredible Messages Press.
